


Three Words

by standingonmytoes



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2016-02-11
Packaged: 2018-05-06 21:09:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5430872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/standingonmytoes/pseuds/standingonmytoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Note: I love this trope. I would write thousands of fic on it tbh (maybe i will) of course, an AU</p><p>When Gino first proposes the idea, Akane is more than skeptical. She knows she’ll suffer in the process. She’ll regret anything and everything she’s said because she meant it but shouldn’t have. It’s a bad idea. One of his worst. But as the barrage of questions push down on her and she has to break another wrist, she thinks maybe the better moments could outweigh her heart.</p><p>“Kogami, let’s date.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Three Words

**Part 1**

Perhaps it’s the way he stares at her midchew. Or the seconds she swears he’s not breathing. Or the split second his eyes widened. Or the moment she hears his breath hike and sees his mouth about to form a response, but she doesn’t wait for a reply. She’s already past the first three words, the next few couldn’t be worse.   
  
“I mean, pretend to. Pretend to date. Fake date. Date but not date. My parents have been worrying about me being lonely, and I think it’d help them if I showed them I have a partner, you know. At least while they’re still in town, so they finally talk to me about something else after they go. And they’ve known you for a while. I think this transition would be the most believable for them and make them happy, you know. I mean- ” Here Kogami roars and then begins grinning. Akane can’t quite recall the last time she heard him laugh like that. It makes her smile, but also wonder if the idea of dating her was really so laughable. She pushes the thought down.   
  
“Tsunemori, I understand. You can take a break now.” She runs a hand through her hair and grins back.  
  
“So yes?“   
  
Kogami slowly places his hand on top of Akane’s and his encapsulates hers. "Yes. I’ll help you out. We’ll date.” She can feel the warmth radiating from his hands, and instinctively curls her fingers around it, unable to resist the urge to give them a little squeeze.   
  
“Thank you.”  
  
“But you know,” Kogami smiles and pushes himself farther onto the table. His eyes peering directly into hers, blocking much of her other vision. In this light, they are a subtle grey, free of worry and holding a glint of mischief. She swears she can see his breath mixing with hers when he says, “at some point we’ll have to be closer than this.” Her heart thumps loudly against her chest; perhaps he can hear it. She hopes he can’t. Perhaps she even stops breathing at some point before she inches a bit closer.   
  
“Would this is be close enough?” He swallows, and Akane thinks his ears are blushing red. But she also thinks it’s what she wants to see.   
  
“It’s your call, Detective.” 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (///▽///)

**Part 2**

Akane first met Kogami when she transferred from Interpol. She showed up late to the precinct and received a stern warning from her new captain, Ginoza Nobuchika. The rest of the team was already out in the field chasing a serial killer. What were you doing; move it move it we’re going out there.   
  
On the way, Gino briefed her about the situation, and handed her a gun. She didn’t have time to tell him that she’d never been sent into the field, despite her training.   
  
Akane remembers chasing after Gino as he received no response from his receiver. She remembers losing him at a turn, deciding to trace a muffled noise farther away, and stumbling on two men arguing. One in a suit backed up against a wall, hands up but also positioned to strike. The other violently waving a knife gripped in his hands.   
  
The blood in her veins pound against her skin and try to escape. Her heart slams against her rib cage. She can’t remember what they said, or who moved first, but she remembers the weight of the gun. In her hands, the cold metal became fire as she reacted to a jerk of the knife. He screams as the bullet goes through his palm and the man in the suit tackles him to the ground.   
  
Having arrested the criminal, the man in the suit rushes over to where Akane has slumped to the ground. Her knuckles have turned white from gripping the gun. Her heart hasn’t steadied. It takes a few snaps and two warm hands wrapped around hers before she can tell he’s talking to her. He’s laughing a bit nervously.  
  
“Detective Tsunemori Akane I presume. I’m detective Kogami Shinya. You saved me.” Akane was aiming for his legs. She’s not sure her heartbeat ever steadied.   
  


* * *

 

 

As Akane lies on her newly acquired sofa, it’s this memory that comes to mind. Ironic that he has been saving her, in many ways, since. But also causing her twice as much trouble.  
  
“Kogami, was this sofa really necessary? There’s no more space in my apartment.“ Akane admits that’s she loves the feeling of her body sinking into it, but she misses the empty space where she could lie sprawled and not think of anything.

Kogami peeks his head out from the bathroom. “I civilized this establishment Tsunemori. Who doesn’t own a sofa?” Akane bits her lips, not only in response to his quip, but also because it’s still strange seeing him with his hair freshly wet. He has bangs now. Kogami however goes back into the bathroom as fast as he came. The precinct rarely did team building at the beach, and the three times they did, Kogami never came. For a while she thought he was afraid of the water.   
  
“A bed can also be a sofa, but the reversible is not quite the same. However, now that I think about it, this sofa will convince my grandmother we’re seriously dating. She shares my sentiments.”   
  
The family dinner went well with her parents; they happily embraced Kogami and told him countless times “to not let her do too many reckless things”. It was only when her grandmother took Kogami aside did things get complicated.   
  
Not only did he say they were living together, he also agreed she should stop by anytime. Akane could only smile and agree behind tight lips. Later on, Kogami admitted he couldn’t have said anything else to those old eyes. “I can see where yours come from.” He said.  
  
Akane wondered if he meant anything by that follow up, but she knows with Kogami she hopes for more than he would give. This week has been more than she imagined. Or well, more than she realistically imagined at least. She should thank Gino the next time she sees him. Her grandmother stops by tomorrow and then catches the next flight home.   
  
It’s almost over.  
  
“Why are you staring at me, Tsunemori?”   
  
By now, Kogami has joined her on the sofa. In grey sweatpants and a black muscles fitted shirt. Hair wet, but slicked back. She can smell her shampoo on him, and she thinks this domestic side to Kogami is one she’ll never experience again. “I’m trying to burn this freshly wet image of you in my mind for later.” Akane bits her lips. Shit, she said that out loud. With a straight face. Because she was so distracted by his shirt.  
  
Perhaps it’s the moments she swears he’s not moving. Or the slow blinks of his eyes. Or the way he gradually smirks. Because he doesn’t know how to respond to an answer he wasn’t expecting. Akane thinks she should laugh it off and then pretend to sleep by hiding under the covers so Kogami can likewise do so on the sofa. But then Kogami opens his mouth. Akane can feel the heat spreading from her ears and down to the tips of her fingers. She’s not sure what she should do with it.   
  
“I’m not going anywhere.”   
  
She grins in spite of herself, knowing it’s only temporary. Akane scoots to sit next to Kogami, and gives him a nudge in the shoulder.  
  
“Just in case.”   
  
Kogami takes a deep breath and runs his hand through his hair. Akane thinks he mumbles something under his breath, so she prods his side. He clasps his hands together, closes his eyes, and releases a deep sigh.  
  
“Detective Tsunemori, if you get any closer, I think I’d like to kiss you.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have only one style in both my life and writing, and that is introspection and second hand embarrassment.

**Part 3**    
  
For a moment, her lungs forget to breathe. In another, she can feel her heartbeat racing, her stomach churning. She forgets to blink. She’s known the man in front of her for a few years now, and while she has witnessed him bleeding, struggling to form words, or even giving her strength when he had none of his own, but Akane has never seen Kogami vulnerable in this way.  
  
Time seems to hold them infinitely in that space. Him, with his hands draped softly in his lap, and his eyes closed. Her, staring at his eyes. Did she hear what he said right? Has her imagination spiraled out of her head into reality? It’s quite possible she made her run to the bed, and this is the consequence of fumbling and hitting her head. A Kogami that desires her. That admits he does. They’ve shared a closeness, but never in this way. Even if Akane hoped for it some time ago, and took a taste of it this past week.  
   
It can’t be right.   
  
Hesitantly, Akane leans a bit forward to assure her sanity. “Could you repeat what you said, Kogami? I don’t think I heard it right.” Akane hopes he’ll laugh that way he did when they first met, assure her erratic heart again. She could take that.   
  
His eyes flash open and find hers. There is a mixture of mirth and pride in his. A tinge of anticipation too, if Akane could claim Kogami was content with waiting. He was always quick to deduce, to act on his conclusions. Except with her feelings, of course. There he either ignored her, or just couldn’t see it. She’s not sure which one she prefers. Tangible seconds pass over her skin before Kogami opens his mouth to say:  
  
“I warned you.”

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Before she knows it, his face is an inch from her face, head slightly tilted to the left. Lips a bit parted. Akane can see water droplets gleaming in his hair. He didn’t dry it enough. Lazy. Their breathing begins to mix together in the little space between them. Akane knows because the wisps of tobacco are much sharper now. He’s still staring at her eyes.  
  
Galaxies seem to blink by, but nothing happens in the moments she takes in these details. Kogami remains suspended in his position. Almost as if he were in a show and someone, much like her, pushed the pause button to savor the moment. Before it breaks into smirks and laughter and teasing quips, as is their usual way when they do anything remotely capable of being labelled as 'flirting'.  
  
But the thought that she should damn the consequences and taste his lips spears through her heart’s defense. She could contribute her actions later to practice; as a meticulous person he’d understand. As a meticulous person, he’d also ask more questions than she was ready to answer. The moments linger too long for him to not know she was deliberating. Which begs the thought: he’s waiting for her response.   
  
Akane swallows a crisp smoke of air. She’s not sure what to do with this new deduction. How long would he wait? Kogami, the not overly confident type, who still strongly pursued his ideals none the less, was laying their decision in her small hands. Akane tilts her head to oppose his. It’s too little time to weigh the short term happiness and long lasting effects of their possible romance. If she took his head in her hands now, what could she expect? How long? How would it end? Would there be one? Could they handle one?  
  
Too many questions crop up in her mind at once. It was simple when she could pretend to pretend, but if she responded seriously now and he decided not to, she would choke on her replies. At best. At worst, she’d have to lie and say she did not love him.   
  
Perhaps she takes too long. Perhaps his muscles begin to stiffen. But Kogami swallows and shuts his eyes. He begins to open his mouth to speak, and in that split second Akane decides she’d like to hear something else.  
  
She quickly places her palm over his chest, hoping to hear a mirror of her own heartbeat. His is much faster. The rhythm takes her back to footsteps pounding as they chase a fleeing criminal, him humming that record Masaoka gave him, his laughter when Gino wore shades because he broke his glasses, repeats of you saved me - you saved me - you saved me.  
  
Her own heart whispers back, “I’ll protect you.” The phrase seems to reverberate through her being and from beyond, from another time that she failed to save them both. So, Akane grabs a fistful of his shirt, pulls him forward a bit, and leans in for a kiss.  
  
He relaxes under her grip, and proceeds to pull her closer until their bangs interweave together. In between slow breaths, he whispers “Akane.”  
  
  
An answer.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Akane finishes buttoning her blouse, and runs a hand over to smooth it. She takes a look in the mirror and notices Kogami doing the same behind her. A grin escapes and finds itself on her face.  
  
“What are we doing?”  
  
Kogami turns around and gives a boyish smile of his own. He crosses the room and stands besides her. With a caress of his hand, he removes crumbs from her hair. "We’re telling the truth now.“  
  
"I meant overall. With us. Tomorrow and the days following and all.” She folds her hands behind her back.  
  
Kogami turns to face her, and bends a bit low to whisper in her ear.  
  
"What would you like for us to be? Like for us to do? I want to know what you’d like to do with me.“  
  
Akane can see his cheeks beginning to redden. It's very cute. She can only respond with a dreamy smile. Dropping her arms to her sides, she whispers back, "Together would be nice.”  
  
He straightens his frame. "More than that. I’ve trusted you with deep uncertainties, stupid weaknesses. We were already together in here." Kogami takes her hand and places it over his left rib cage. Likewise he places his hand over hers.  
  
"Gino was right; you are a romanticist, Kogami.”  
  
"Call me Shinya.”  
  
"Shinya.“ The word feels foreign and familiar at the same time. Like the words have been waiting too long on her tongue. Instinctively, she slips her hand into his and gives them a firm squeeze.  
  
"Shinya, let’s date.”  
  
He takes a deep breath before he asks, "Is there an expiration date this time?”  
  
"Your call, Detective.”  
  
They are still holding hands when they open the door.


End file.
